San Francisco Mayor London Breed, a Democrat, was photographed at a jazz club earlier this week indoors and without a mask, despite a city-wide mandate. When asked on Friday about her defiance of the mask mandate, Breed responded with excuses that wouldn’t fly for anyone else, including a denunciation of the “fun police.”
Fox News reported that Breed was photographed dancing and singing while partying indoors with a co-founder of Black Lives Matter. When Fox 2 asked the Mayor about defying the mask mandate, she was “steadfastly defiant.”
“While I’m eating and drinking I’m going to keep my mask off,” Breed, told the outlet, calling the story a “distraction.” “And yes, in the time while we’re drinking like everyone else there, we were all having a good time and again all vaccinated.”
San Francisco’s mask mandate includes those who have been vaccinated.
Breed also said it wasn’t “realistic” to expect people to put their mask on in between eating and drinking. As Fox noted, Breed’s own city mandate requires people to wear masks indoors unless they are actively eating or drinking. As Breed admitted, she was not doing this, yet still refused to apologize or accept responsibility for her actions, even though other people are supposed to follow her rules
“My drink was sitting at the table. I got up and started dancing because I was feeling the spirit and I wasn’t thinking about a mask,” Breed told reporters. “I was thinking about having a good time and in the process I was following the health orders.”
Breed also said that she and others in the club “don’t need the fun police to come in and micromanage and tell us what we should or shouldn’t be doing.”
“The fact that this story became about me and less about the artists and nightlife, which I will continue to enjoy in San Francisco, is very unfortunate,” she added.
Breed also insisted that she’s “been very careful, not just because I want to set an example but because I don’t want to get COVID.”
“I also want to make sure that I’m not someone transmitting COVID to other people,” she said. “This entire pandemic has been focused on keeping people safe.”
But even other Democrats see her actions as unhelpful and hypocritical. KPIX-TV in San Francisco quoted a person on Twitter as saying: “I am a registered Democrat and I voted for her. I love you Madame Mayor, but its all over the news. …You’ll need to address the public.”
Some residents also spoke out about the Mayor defying the mask order that others are expected to follow. Danielle Rabkin, the owner of Crossfit Golden Gate Gym, told KNTV that Breed has “been very clear that everybody needs to do their part, we’re not out of the woods.” Rabkin added that she doesn’t see Breed “playing her part in that photo.”